U.S. Monitoring Western Europe Over Anti-Muslim, Anti-Jewish Discrimination

The United States is monitoring Western Europe for signs of religious discrimination, particularly against Muslims and Jews, according to the annual report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

"The state of affairs for international religious freedom is worsening in both depth and breadth of violations," according to the USCIFR, a federal government commission. "The blatant assaults have become so frightening—attempted genocide, the slaughter of innocents, and wholesale destruction of places of worship—that less egregious abuses go unnoticed or at least unappreciated. Many observers have become numb to violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion."

Problems involving religious freedom in Western Europe include hate speech against certain groups; government restrictions on forms of religious expression such as dress and places of worship; and the impact of counter-extremism policies, according to the report. The USCIFR also cites "an alarming rise in societal hostility towards Jews and Muslims in Europe, including discrimination, harassment, and sometimes violence."